If you have read the book or now watched the movie, then one central event has no doubt been burned into your mind.  This event occurs during the “reaping” (if you haven’t watched the movie or read the book, this may be a bit a of a spoiler for you. In fact, most of the reaping scene will make no sense unless you have). The reaping is the annual selection in which 2 young teens are selected to represent their district by being what they call a “tribute” at the Hunger Games.

At District 12’s reaping, the flamboyant Effie Trinket stands up on the stage. The community is gathered to watch the scene unfold.  The “higher ups” try to promote the honor of being a tribute but no one buys it. Every 12-18 year old teen in the district is on hand hoping that their name remains unselected. After a few moments, the selection begins. To be selected first, a young girl. Effie reaches into the big ball filled with the names of the girls in the district. Unfolding the paper, Effie walks up to the microphone and says “Primrose Everdeen”. The 12-year old sister to the story’s heroine, Katniss Everdeen, begins to emerge with tears flowing. This was not supposed to happen. There was no way she should have been selected since her name was only in the bowl once. As she begins to walk forward, the scene becomes even more dramatic. Katniss, Prim’s older sister, tearfully and desperately emerges from the crowd and yells, “I volunteer!”

She couldn’t let her little sister go to her eventual death. In fact, it seems like Katniss has just volunteered to go die. Nevertheless, the scene is powerful. It captivates us. Katniss’s love for Prim isn’t just heroic, it is moving. No one watching that scene unfold thinks to themselves, “Man, what a great young woman Katniss is.” No, everyone watching thinks about what powerful love is on display. And the catch to all this is it’s all fiction. We are wrapped up in this scene because deep down we all want this love to be real in our life and world, but it just seems so far from us. The more I think on this portrait of love, the more I remember the ultimate portrait of love; the love shown on the cross more than two-thousand years ago; the love that every human being is searching for: life changing love.

In Tim Keller’s book, The King’s Cross, he writes “all life-changing love is substitutionary sacrifice” (pg. 141). The gospel message is just that: Jesus came and lived the perfect life, died and resurrected, so that we could have eternal life. The God-man who knew no sin became sin so that we could become the righteousness of God. This is what changes us. This is powerful. “All life-changing love is substitutionary sacrifice”. This love is found in Jesus.

Why does the reaping scene move us? Because it points us to this fundamental truth. We need a Savior.

We need someone who steps in on our behalf and become a substitute. This is what Jesus has done.

It is incredible to me how many gospel themes are in the Hunger Games. In fact, I think the book/movie hits home on so many levels because of the biblical themes that are present. All of us were created for God. We have turned to other things. We are worshipping other things. Yet, the longing to return home remains. The portrait of Katniss is admiring, yet just a fictional story that stirs us. The gospel is powerful, life-changing and true. The greatest love in the world is found in God himself. Jesus endured the cross because of His great love. This is the reality. My prayer is that we would spend more time in this story. The story of God redeeming a people for himself. A story of great grandeur. The gospel.

Second-Rate Discipline?

In Matthew 6 we find Jesus teaching on fasting. He had just taught his disciples the discipline of giving and prayer. Now our attention is focused on fasting. Jesus begins, “And when you fast.” For so long I have missed what was really being said here. Jesus isn’t just teaching on fasting in an isolated section. He is grouping fasting with giving and prayer. He uses the same phrase “And when you…” to introduce giving and praying. In Jesus’s mind, fasting isn’t less important than these. It isn’t a discipline that should only be practiced by the spiritual elite. No, Jesus assumes that his followers are going to fast in the same way they give and pray. Jesus might not have commanded us to fast in this passage, but He certainly believes that we will be fasting.

Why Don’t I Fast?

If Jesus assumes that I will fast, then I have to ask the question of why I don’t fast. My answer, if I am honest, is because I have always viewed fasting as a negative. I have always viewed fasting as torture rather than what it actually is: feasting. Fasting has always been drudgery rather than delight. I know the saints of old fasted and found joy in it. I know that many saints today are fasting with great joy but, I just never felt any of that. Instead all I felt was an empty stomach and a bad headache. Let’s be honest, most of us who have fasted to some degree have had an experience like this. But what if Jesus had something more in mind when it came to fasting? What if fasting could be delightful and nourishing? What if fasting could be feasting?

Fasting is Feasting

I first heard the phrase “fasting is feasting” when reading the book Celebration of Discipline by Richard Foster. I didn’t give it much thought, though, until I heard it again in a sermon by John Piper. For the first time, this profound thought stirred my heart for fasting. Fasting doesn’t have to be a duty. It can be a delight. On this Piper says, “We are always driven to fast because we hunger for something more than food. That is the meaning of fasting: it cries out, ‘This I want more than the pleasure of food!’” When I say fasting is feasting, I am saying that my soul is being nourished. I am feeding on the word of God. I am not just abstaining from earthly food. Rather I am rejecting earthly bread to feast on the “bread of life”. True fasting is feasting and I am thankful that I am now learning how to fast and feast. When I fast, I get to experience a taste of heaven; I get to experience the feast that I will enjoy for eternity. Fasting is far greater than just abstaining from food. After a forty-day fast, Jesus says these words “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.”

So, may we feast on the bread of life as we seek ways to obey Jesus in our fasting, and may we not forget how satisfying it is to be emptied of ourselves and filled with the Spirit’s good fruit.

My Bible reading plan is currently taking me through the story of Moses and Israel in Exodus. I have often been drawn up in deep contemplation about what life would have been like as an Israelite in those days. God was doing incredible, unbelievable things for His people. Imagine being an Israelite, having been through those days, and reflecting on them. Imagine reuniting with some buddies that you made bricks with back in Egypt. I picture the conversations being full of stories like, “Remember when God caused the Nile to be turned to blood?” or “Remember when God gave us bread from heaven?” What incredible, wondrous deeds these people witnessed. I love thinking about what it would be like to have stories like that.

That’s when I realize that’s what I want more than anything. I want to live a life of faith in God’s promises. I want to live a life of prayer; a life that pleads with God to show up in incredible ways. I want to live a life that is so risky for the gospel that God delights to show up in huge ways. As I approach the end of my life, I want to be able to look with the brothers who have been with me along the way and tell stories like, “Remember when God saved hundreds in the first year of our church?” or “Remember when God brought revival to our city?” I want my life to count. I want my life to be a life that is filled with “Remember when God…?” moments.

There is something inside of me that drives me to self-righteousness.  It’s in all of us.  It is no wonder that Charles Spurgeon says “The greatest enemy to human souls is the self-righteous spirit which makes men look to themselves for salvation.” Why is it the greatest enemy? Because it is so common and so powerful. We all face it.  Everyday, I have to wake myself up and remind myself of the gospel. Not only am I prone to forget it but I am prone to oppose it as well. I am prone to get up and say, “Man I need to behave better today or I need to improve this area of my life.”

The problem is that I begin to look to myself in order to discover what can only be found in Christ. I am justified by faith alone in Christ alone. This is such a precious truth. It is a truth that Paul spent his entire Christian life proclaiming, and the letter of Galatians was no different. I believe that I am justified by faith alone. Yet, why would I be sanctified by Matt alone? Why do I look to myself for continuation in the faith? Paul confronts the Galatians with the same question in Chapter 3.  After writing on their justification in Christ by faith in chapter 2, Paul now writes concerning their sanctification.  He first reminds them of the crucified Christ and their justification again by hearing with faith. He then continues saying “Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?” I hear Paul saying this to me. Maybe you hear him saying this to you too. Why? Because we are prone to do this. We are prone to self-improvement. We see our sinfulness and think we must correct it before we can approach God. We think this whole remaining Christian thing depends on us.

The truth is sanctification is a work of God’s free grace, not our efforts. The Westminster Shorter Catechism states, “Sanctification is the work of God’s free grace, whereby we are renewed in the whole man after the image of God, and are enabled more and more to die unto sin, and live unto righteousness.” It is the work of the Spirit. It isn’t a work of the flesh. We don’t have to behave better. We need to believe better.  It is God who began the good work in us and it is God who will bring us to completion (Phil. 1:6). We just have to receive it. I admit this truth is hard for me because it doesn’t give me much control. It was a hard truth for the Galatians. They wanted to be godlier so they took up following the law as well. False teachers were telling them that it was dependent on God’s work + their work. This is the same lie that we hear today.

Christian, rest in the words of Jesus saying, “It is finished”. You are secure in Christ. What we need is not to behave better but believe better. This is why I preach the Gospel to myself each day. This is why Christ is so precious to me. He will bring me home, and it is freeing.

For example, when I talk to my friends about sin, there is a difference between what I mean by sin and what they think of when they hear the word sin. To them, sin means doing things that society deems as “bad.” If they steal or murder or cheat on their taxes they believe they have sinned, but when I talk about sin I mean much more. I mean that everything that a man does that doesn’t stem from a desire to glorify God is sin. Any time I use the word sin in conversation with my coworkers I lose them a little. They believe that since they have been relatively “good people” that they are not guilty of sin on a level that would offend God. Any attempt to explain the truth of sin and the offense of sin to a holy and righteous God is incoherent to them. With many of my coworkers, the topic of sin is a dead-end road.

I have quickly learned that I need a way to connect with my coworkers that meets them on a level that they can understand and on which we can agree. I need what I like to call “currency for conversation.” I have found that one of the most effective forms of currency for communication is the concept of community. When people see the community that I have, they see a diverse group of people from many walks of life and spanning many age ranges. This is something that they don’t quite understand. They are used to seeing groups of friends with similar interests who connect on issues like sports or video games. Seeing such a diverse group living in such deep community makes them want to know more. This gives me inroads to discuss the life change that each of my friends have experienced because of the gospel. I can share with them the reason for our unity (Jesus), bring them around others who share the same love of the gospel that I have, and it is a great way for me to introduce them to concepts that will eventually enable them to understand concepts like sin. In essence, I need to engage people where they are in the culture, because Christian-ese is not a language that my coworkers speak.

My Awesomeness
There is a familiar and funny ring to the Pharisee’s prayer. Familiar because, I have found myself at times praying just like him. Funny because, well lets be honest, it’s just a funny prayer. “God, I thank you that I am so awesome. But seriously, my awesomeness surpasses so many people. I am even awesome enough to go the extra mile. I don’t just give the normal amount. I give way more because I am crazy awesome.” Tell me that doesn’t sound ridiculously funny! Ok maybe I am embellishing a lot. Yet the reality is that if we take the time to stop and look at the way our lives are presented, we preach this same thing. We find ourselves before God, thanking him that we are awesome.

Profound Brokenness
Despite all the “awesomeness” of the Pharisee, there is another prayer that captures and captivates our attention. It’s a prayer of profound brokenness and a deep sense of unworthiness. It captures and captivates us because deep down it’s exactly how we feel. We often don’t feel very awesome, especially when we feel the depth of our sin. It’s a prayer from a man who couldn’t even look up to Heaven. It’s a prayer from a man who realized the depths of his sin and the greatness of God’s holiness. There is no boasting. There is only a simple request that he had absolutely no part in. He had no awesomeness to make God act on his request. His only request was for God to be merciful to him, a broken sinner. The Pharisee counted his righteousness and awesomeness as sufficient before an infinitely Holy God. The tax collector however pleaded for and relied on the Mercy of God. The beautiful thing is Jesus says this tax collector is the man justified. The man with absolutely no awesomeness to bring before God is justified!

God’s Awesomeness is my Awesomeness
Man, there’s so much awesomeness going around. Yet, the beautiful fact remains: in Christ, God is reconciling a people to himself, and Jesus is declaring sinners justified because of his finished work. Jesus has purchased in full the salvation that we obtain by grace through faith. The awesomeness of God is given to me in Christ. His righteousness is my righteousness. This is the Gospel: sinners, coming to an infinitely worthy Savior apart from any awesomeness of their own because of the awesomeness of Christ. Because I have “died, and your [my] life is hidden with Christ in God” I have everything that Christ has. His all-surpassing awesomeness is mine, in Christ. This is incredible. With the tax collector we can cry out “God be merciful to me, a sinner!” We can approach God with no awesomeness of our own. And this is exactly how we should approach him.

Really? A good day? That’s all? I’m speaking with a God who not only created the world, universe, atoms, and the sun, but who also loves me so much that he came in human form and died for me, and all I ask for is a good day? Maybe I redeem myself a bit by asking that I glorify Him in all that I do? In reality, when I say prayers like that, they are so rehearsed and repeated that I rarely sit on that and plead with Him that I would glorify Him. Do I really mean it? It’s just something you say in a prayer, right? Wrong.

Prayer is an incredible gift that God has given us. He allows us to cast our cares upon Him. HIM! A holy, almighty God! This is incredible, marvelous, to good to be true, but it is true! Is it hitting you yet? You have access to an all-powerful God who wants to hear your requests and petitions. He delights in answering prayers. So why, then, do we waste our time praying menial prayers that we don’t even mean half the time? We should be on our knees pleading with God for huge, monumental, ginormous, gargantuan things. Why do I miss this so often?

One of my favorite metaphors about prayer is from John Piper. He compares prayer to a wartime walkie-talkie that is being used as a domestic intercom. We have at our disposal a means of communication by which to call in reinforcements when we need them, but we use it instead as a way to ask the butler for more lemonade. We could ask for such big things if we would just elevate our vision of God. So, are you with me? Do you want to do more than just confess a belief in a big God? Then let’s do it! Comment below with what big prayer you are going to start praying. Will you pray for revival in your school, workplace, city, etc.? Will you pray for a miracle? Get creative, think big, and then….PRAY!

What the Book is about. (Taken from Christian Audio)
“Because obeying God makes sense to us. In most cases, His laws appear reasonable and wise, and even when we don’t want to obey them, we usually concede that they are good for us. But the circumstances we find ourselves in often defy explanation.

When unexpected situations arise that appear unjust, irrational, or even dreadful, we feel confused and frustrated. And before long, we begin to doubt God’s concern for us or His control over our lives. Adversity is hard to endure and can even be harder to understand. If God were really in control, why would He allow the tragic auto accident or crucial job loss? How could He permit cancer in a loved one or the death of a child?

Grappling with His concern for us we ask, “Why is God allowing this?” or “What have I done wrong?” In an effort to strengthen his own trust in God during a time of adversity, Jerry Bridges began a lengthy Bible study on the topic of God’s sovereignty. What he learned changed his life, and he now shares the fruit of that study with you in Trusting God.

As you begin to explore the scope of God’s power over nations, nature, and the detailed lives of individuals, you’ll begin to acknowledge His loving control. And as you come to know Him better, you’ll find yourself trusting Him more completely—even when life hurts.”

The problem I have is that in my experience as the weeks go by the “new converts” tend to fall right back into their previous lifestyle. I believe that the problem here is that these alter call type conversions result from an emotional situation where a person is either told about the dangers of hell or the potential benefits of the Christian life. They have very little understanding of what the gospel is about and they have not sought God one bit, but naturally they want to avoid Hell. As a result they pray the prayer and presume themselves to be saved. They want their life to get better, so they pray the prayer and assume that life will be great from then on. Unfortunately, much of the time, these people have no true affection for Christ. Their conversion typically results not from true love for God, but from a love for themselves, compelling them to save themselves from Hell or to accept something that they believe will improve their life. Jesus just happens to be their ticket. This is where I have become quite skeptical of these alter call conversions and I agree with Jonathan Edwards that “sudden conversions are very often false.” After seeing so many of these turn into nothing but a momentary desire to avoid hell I have often turned into a naysayer, disregarding these alter calls and expecting nothing out of them.

More recently, however, I have come to believe that even though I may well be right that church camp alter calls are not helpful and may even be harmful, the more damaging thing is my response to them. I have become prone to roll my eyes, sometimes even writing off the raised hands as an emotional response with no true conversion behind it. The problem then is that no pursuit and discipleship happens for these new believers and my skeptical assumption that the conversion was false becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy as the hand-raisers now have no support system or instruction available to help them understand what it means to be disciples of Christ.

This is just a microcosm…a single example out of many areas of mainstream Christianity about which I have become slothfully skeptical, avoiding responsibility because I believe that it to be a fundamentally ineffective way of doing ministry. But then I think…what if instead of finding things to nitpick in the Christian life, we became problem solvers? What if we took the softened heart of a hand-raiser and made it into an opportunity to offer real discipleship? What if I stopped being a naysayer about these sudden conversions and turned them into an opportunity for a lasting conversion? I know that my life would be a lot more effective if I critiqued less and pursued more. I want my life to be effective.